Pyeongchang [South Korea], September 4 : Indian men's table tennis team on Monday cruised to the semifinals of the ongoing Asian Table Tennis Championship 2023 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Indian men's team, comprising, veteran paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai, hammered Singapore 3-0 to clinch its semifinal berth. The victory against Singapore also assured India a medal in the tournament.
A place in the last four guarantees a medal for the Indian men’s team at the continental championships as both losing semifinalists are rewarded bronze medals at the competition.
Playing the first match of the tie on Monday morning, Sharath Kamal clinched the first set 11-1 but faced formidable resistance from Izaac Quek in the next.
With Izaac drawing level in the second set 12-10, Sharath Kamal regained his lead in the third 11-8. Izaac would draw level again at 13-11 however it did not take long for Sharath Kamal to regain control and the match with a scoreline of 11-1, 10-12, 11-8, 11-13, 14-12.
The second match of the tie saw, Sathiyan play a dominant match against Yew En Koen Pang and prevailed 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 12-10).
In the third match, Harmeet, too clinched a straight-set victory over Zhe Yu Clarence Chew 3-0 (11-9, 11-4, 11-6) to ensure India's place in the semifinals.
However, the Indian women's TT team suffered a defeat to Japan 0-3 after veteran paddler Manika Batra, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee were beaten in their respective matches in the quarterfinal tie.
In the women’s team quarterfinals, Mukherjee, playing against Japan’s Mima Ito, lost 3-0 in the first match. India’s star table tennis player Manika Batra (1-3) and Sutirtha Mukherjee (1-3) also suffered defeats to Hina Hayata and Miu Hirano, respectively. The trio will next play in the classification match for the 5-8 spot on Tuesday.
India’s mixed doubles team of Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran will be in action on Tuesday. The Indian duo, after receiving a bye in the round of 64, will face the Thai duo of Sanguansin Phakpoom and Paranang Orawan in the round of 32
The winners of the men’s and women’s team events as well as the mixed doubles competition will each secure a place for next year’s Paris Olympics.
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